OAKLAND — If the chips aren’t down, an Oakland man may win more than $8.5 million at the 2009 World Series of Poker Main Event on Saturday in Las Vegas.

Darvin Moon, a logger and amateur poker player from Oakland, has risen through the ranks to take a massive lead over his eight competitors. With nearly 59 million chips, Moon is almost twice as far ahead as his closest competitor, Steven Begleiter of New York City, who has nearly 30 million chips.

Other competitors include Phil Ivey, a seven-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner considered by some analysts to be one of the best players in the world.

Unlike the other competitors, Moon is not a professional poker player. He had previously played at venues like the Oakland Elks Lodge and the Oakland American Legion.

“You gotta figure with the number of people in the U.S. that play poker, for someone from our area (to get this far), it’s just unbelievable,” said Lionel Baker, a poker fan from Midland who has followed Moon’s rise to the top by watching him on TV. “They started out up there with 6,500 players and he’s down to the last nine. I don’t think anyone will ever see anything like that again.”

According to Internet gaming service bodog.com, Moon has 2-1 odds to win the Main Event and claim the $8.5 million prize.

Moon has already earned more than $1 million for making it to the final nine competitors or “November Nine.”

The Main Event will continue through Monday and will be broadcast on ESPN Tuesday.

Contact Cory Galliher at cgalliher@times-news.com.